51% would like a wellness allowance to support a personal approach to wellbeing

More than half (51%) of employee respondents would like to have access to a wellness pot or allowance to support a personal approach to staying mentally and physically well, according to research by Thomsons Online Benefits.

Its UK employee benefits watch: 2016/17: transformation to wellness report, which surveyed 500 UK employees and 200 UK HR professionals, also found that 46% of employer respondents include improving employee health and wellbeing among the top three positive impacts they want their benefits programme to have.

The research also found:

4% of employer respondents offer staff a wellness pot or allowance, outside of flexible benefits, and 76% are not considering this approach.

81% of employer respondents cite improving employee engagement among the top three positive impacts they want their benefits programme to have, and 54% cite improving talent retention.

Matthew Gregson (pictured), senior vice president, data and analytics at Thomsons Online Benefits, said: “Employers that offer the latest in wellness support will have around three times as many employees who are extremely engaged in their [organisation]. These employees will perform better, and make a greater contribution to business productivity. Therefore, aligning benefits strategy with people strategy is an absolutely critical step in giving the right package to employees and getting the most back from them.”